The invention relates generally to simulation tools, and more particularly to tools for modeling human activities that may occur in a business, school, or other social setting.
Two types of models of work are now generally incorporated in business modeling tools: work flow models and business process models.
Work flow models describe a flow of information and representational materials (e.g., forms) through an organization. Work flow models generally represent the idealized procedures of standard policies and plans, rather than what people actually do.
Business process models describe organizations and functional transformations at a high level. Business process models are often framed in terms of role relationships of people, tasks, and information, such as customer-supplier, process-activity, or role-actor, or in terms of conversations for action (request-negotiate-perform-close). Business process models emphasize event-triggered interdependencies: for example, when an order arrives on a fax, a person in a given role processes the order.